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LONE STAR PERSPECTIVE “I need to hear from you to know what IAFP can do to address your needs as members" As I begin my first column, let me start off with a few random thoughts. First, I am very honored to be your president. The International Association for Food Protection is definitely the place to be in food safety, and the reason we are the premiere food safety association is primarily due to the quality, dedication and involvement of our members. You represent the top food-safety thinkers, the people in the industry responsible for producing, process-ing and delivering a safe, high-quality product, the government agencies that help assure a con-sistent and reliable food supply — and you actively contribute your time, intellect and money to this organization. I can’t tell you how humbling it is to be in theposition of President of this Association. Second, I view the office of President as a service. I am here to help you. You are the force that drives this Association to excellence, so I need to hear from you to know what IAFP can do to address your needs as members and provide opportunities for professional growth. That’s not to say your Executive Board does not have ideas for taking the Association to the next level—we do. But if we are not listening and serving the membership first, all of our plans for advancement and expansion will be irrelevant. Third, I am committed to maintaining momentum. Hopefully, you have noticed that the Associat-ion has demonstrated significant activity in some very important areas. Our Foundation has been the focus of numerous important fundraising efforts lately, and with great success. Our international presence has increased greatly, with multiple meetings scheduled annually outside North America. Our Association dues have been completely restructured in an effort to provide a membership defined by your individual needs and at the best value for your money. IAFP is moving forward in many areas, and the Executive Board is committed to continue serving the membership with new and innovative initiatives. By the time this column is published, we will have completed a very successful 94th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. I have always been impressed with the work of our Program Committee and IAFP staff in putting together an Annual Meeting, but I have to tell you that I have been especially impressed this year. This year’s Program Committee, a hard-working and talented group under the leadership of Lee-Ann Jaykus, did an incredible job designing a program containing something useful and interesting for all our members. And providing additional value, holding the meeting on Disney property offered a unique opportunity for family involvement that we don’t often have. A huge thanks goes out to the Florida Affiliate and to Frank Yiannas for hosting us. Frank really went the extra mile in working with Disney to make sure everything was perfect and that this meeting was “Magical!” Speaking of Frank, I can’t let my first column go by without express-ing gratitude for the outstanding job he has done as President. I feel very fortunate to have been able to watch him work, and I have to say that I am also a little intimidated. It is hard to follow a perfect act! Frank has worked very hard this year to continue our efforts to promote the presence of IAFP in the world and to specifically serve our members located outside North America. During his term as President and following the momentum begun in Jeff Farber’s term, we now have initiated multiple international meetings occurring on an annual basis. We are seeing even more international members at our Annual Meetings; our journals are sent out all over the world and our international affiliate associations cont-inue to grow. Our goal has always been to be an Association with international focus, but Frank’s leadership this last year has provided a major boost in that area. Thanks, Frank; you renewed our focus on our roots and our mission: “to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.” Of course, none of our recent success would have been possible without the behind-the-scenes work of the remainder of the Executive Board. Our past president, Jeff Farber, has continued to provide wisdom and leadership to the group, and our president-elect and secretary, Stan Bailey and Vickie Lewandowski, respectively, have been invaluable in their efforts to advance the IAFP Foundation. I am looking forward to adding Lee-Ann Jaykus to the Executive Board and working with her for the next couple of years. We should have a strong Board this year, and you can be confident that we will work to keep IAFP at the forefront of the science and issues in food safety important to you. And while I am thanking people, the entire Executive Board would be the first to tell you that the real reason for the success of IAFP is the outstanding staff. David Tharp and Lisa Hovey lead a dedicated and talented group of people who make sure everything works. On behalf of the Executive Board and the entire IAFP membership, I want to thank the staff for everything you do—for making sure we look professional even when we aren’t, for being pat-ient with us when deadlines loom, and for keeping the premiere food safety association in the world humming so we can do what we do best—advance food safety worldwide. So we are off and running on my term as President of IAFP. I look forward to serving you and believe we are in for an exciting year of challenges and opportunities. As I mentioned before, communication is essential to success for IAFP, so please feel free to contact me at any time. I would love to hear your opinions and dreams for the Association.
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